Vivabeat’s First-Ever Live Album Wild World —Available Now

Here’s a live document that’s been waiting 40+ years to surface: eighties techno-pop band Vivabeat has released Wild World (Live in Los Angeles 1980-84), their first-ever live album, available now from Liberation Hall Music. The 14-track collection draws from three Los Angeles performances spanning four years, capturing different stages of the band’s career from an early Whisky a Go Go show featuring the original lineup through their mid-career Lhasa Club performance to their final live show ever at FM Station in 1984. Two never-before-released tracks, “Glisse le Rat” and “I’m Right,” appear on this new package, while four videos from The Lhasa Club show (the only live footage of the band in existence) have debuted on YouTube alongside the album release. Press response has been fervent, with outlets across the US, UK, and Spain lauding Wild World as essential recovered history from the era that gave us Depeche Mode, Human League, and the B-52s, all of whom Vivabeat toured alongside.

The Three-Venue Timeline#

Wild World functions as career documentary in live album form, each venue representing a distinct chapter in Vivabeat’s evolution.

The Whisky a Go Go recordings from 1980 capture the band at their earliest, featuring the original lineup that first caught Peter Gabriel and Charisma Records’ attention. Seven tracks from this legendary Sunset Strip venue open the album: “Jet Set,” “On Patrol,” “Not Dead Anymore,” the title track “Wild World,” “I Know Your Room,” “Pop Girl,” and the previously unreleased “I’m Right.” This is Vivabeat before the industry took notice, playing the club circuit that launched countless new wave careers.

The Lhasa Club recording from 1983 provides the mid-career snapshot, represented by a single track but carrying particular significance. “Man from China,” the song whose haunting whistle hook is said to have inspired Peter Gabriel’s “Games Without Frontiers,” appears here in its live incarnation. This performance also yielded the only surviving live video footage of the band.

FM Station in 1984 documents Vivabeat’s final live show ever. Six tracks close the album: the previously unreleased “Glisse le Rat,” “Angry Red Planet,” “Last White Man,” “Gray, Gray Gray,” “The House is Burning (but there’s no one home),” and “Shine.” This is a band at full maturity, capturing their sound just before they stepped away from performing.

The Technological Resurrection#

The fact that Wild World exists at all represents triumph of archival dedication combined with modern production technology.

Co-founder Mick Muhlfriedel combed through archival cassettes and videotapes, material that had languished for decades in formats that predated practical restoration options. Recent advances in production software and AI made the impossible possible. Mick digitized the long-dormant source material, then spent months assembling the album using “stem splitter” technology to convert the original two-track recordings into multitracks, separating vocal and instrumental elements for proper mixing.

The technology has improved significantly, but the process still required considerable effort to bring the live tracks into shape. Once Mick completed his painstaking work, the band collaborated with engineer Thomas Ross Johansen to finalize EQs and ensure consistency across a project that spans four years of recordings from three different venues with varying source quality.

The Lhasa Club video footage presented its own challenges. The 46-year-old videotape had deteriorated significantly, so the band combined it with other material. The videos for “Man from China” and “The House is Burning” integrate imagery from the band’s original 1979 and 1982 music videos respectively. “Glisse le Rat” and “Angry Red Planet” incorporate found footage. All four videos are available individually on YouTube, with an extended version featuring backstage footage also available.

The Vivabeat Story#

For those discovering Vivabeat through Wild World, the band’s history reveals a group connected to virtually every significant thread of early ’80s alternative music.

Vivabeat formed in L.A. in 1978 as a hybrid of Los Angeles and Boston musicians from local punk and new wave bands. Keyboardist and vocalist Marina (del Rey) Muhlfriedel had founded the seminal L.A. punk/pop band Backstage Pass. Drummer Doug Orilio came from Boston’s Reddy Teddy. Bass player and primary songwriter Mick Muhlfriedel and Alec Murphy had played with various Boston bands. Lead singer Terrance Robay joined fresh off playing James Dean on the London stage. Connie DiSilva was a prodigy synth player and radio DJ in Boston. The Whisky and Lhasa shows feature Jeff Gilbert on guitar and Chris Schendel on drums.

Their debut album Party in the War Zone featured “Man from China,” the track that captured Peter Gabriel’s attention and resulted in Vivabeat’s signing to Charisma Records. The song became an underground classic and a Top 20 ’80s dance hit across Europe, the US, and Asia.

After parting ways with Charisma, the band continued recording and spent years touring with the era’s defining acts: the B-52s, Depeche Mode, Gang of Four, Human League, R.E.M. They released an eponymous EP produced by Earle Mankey featuring former Japan, Gary Numan, and Sinéad O’Connor guitarist Rob Dean. That EP included “The House is Burning (But There’s No One Home),” which appears in Brian De Palma’s Body Double, was recently licensed for Amazon Prime’s animated series The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy, and whose video won an MTV award. “Working for William” was featured in Peacock’s Hysteria.

The Reissue Campaign#

Wild World represents the culmination of an archival project that began in late 2023.

Marina and Mick Muhlfriedel spearheaded the effort, first reissuing Party in the War Zone and The House is Burning on Rubellan Remasters. Expanded editions followed through Liberation Hall Music in 2025, establishing the infrastructure and partnerships that made Wild World possible.

The live album completes the picture. Studio recordings told one story; Wild World reveals how Vivabeat translated that material to the stage across four years of evolution. For fans who discovered the band through reissues, this is the document that shows what they sounded like in the room.

The Press Response#

Coverage has been more than positive; outlets have treated Wild World as genuine rediscovery.

Scene Point Blank, The Big Takeover, Midlands Rocks (UK), Retrofuturista (Spain), Paltrocast, and MK Ultra have all covered the release. Upcoming appearances include the (Mike) Watt from Pedro Show, Record That Got Me High podcast, Only Three Lads podcast, and NPR affiliate KMUW 89.1 FM’s Strange Currency. The consensus positions Wild World as “a vital missing chapter in ’80s techno-pop,” essential context for understanding an era whose influence continues reshaping contemporary music.

Where the Founders Are Now#

Marina Muhlfriedel is a writer based in Los Angeles, with her memoir Born on Sunset set for publication in 2027. She occasionally performs in a Backstage Pass reboot, hosts Our Lips Unsealed (a rock ‘n’ roll storytelling show), and practices tai chi.

Mick Muhlfriedel serves as president of The Downtown L.A. Soccer Club, a large youth soccer nonprofit, and is completing a new album with his Buff Roshi project featuring Holly Beth Vincent and other guest musicians.

Both remain active, their current creative work informed by the history Wild World now makes available to audiences who weren’t there the first time.

Who Should Listen Now#

If ’80s techno-pop and new wave define your musical foundations: Vivabeat toured with the era’s biggest names and influenced some of its most recognizable sounds. Wild World fills a gap you didn’t know existed.

If archival live recordings fascinate you: The technological resurrection of 40+ year-old cassettes and videotapes into releasable audio represents what modern production can accomplish with dedicated effort.

If you discovered Vivabeat through the recent reissues: The studio albums told one story. Wild World shows what they sounded like live, how the songs evolved across four years, and what their final show captured.

If the Whisky a Go Go’s legacy matters to you: Early Vivabeat on that legendary stage, original lineup, the energy that caught Peter Gabriel’s attention.

If you want the complete picture of an underappreciated band: Two previously unreleased tracks, the only live video footage in existence, and 14 songs spanning career beginning to end.

Wild World Is Available Now#

Wild World (Live in Los Angeles 1980-84) is available now from Liberation Hall Music.

Fourteen tracks. Three venues. Four years. The band that toured with Depeche Mode and Human League, that caught Peter Gabriel’s ear, that won an MTV award and soundtracked Body Double. The live document that waited four decades to surface.

The Whisky a Go Go. The Lhasa Club. FM Station. Vivabeat’s complete live story, finally told.